Pyrethrum firm retirees demand Sh2bn pension arrears

More than 300 retirees at the Pyrethrum Processing Company of Kenya (PPCK) have appealed to President Uhuru Kenyatta to help them get their Sh2 billion pension arrears.

The pensioners said they have not received their pensions for the past seven years.

The retirees said that with the coronavirus pandemic, many of them need money to buy drugs and food.

LIVES DISRUPTED
“With a lot of humility Mr President, we write to you this letter requesting for your indulgence in matters affecting 322 pensioners who are dying and suffering in silence in their homes,” said the letter signed by 12 pensioners.

“The sick, widows, widowers, children and the elderly’s lives have been disrupted and many are just waiting for the inevitable demise,” added the letter.

Mr Haron Tinga who is the spokesperson of Pyrethrum Board of Kenya Staff Superannuation Pensioners Scheme said that with Covid-19, many pensioners are undergoing a tough time.

“It is sad that pensioners who toiled and ensured the country produced quality pyrethrum which earned the country billions of shillings in foreign exchange are dying,” said Mr Tinga.

Another pensioner Sammy Murage urged President Kenyatta to intervene. He claimed that the parent Ministry of Agriculture and other relevant government authorities had abandoned the pensioners.

NO MONEY

“These pensioners have children to feed, hospital bills to pay, school fees, rents, food among other overhead costs but they have no money and their families are suffering and have been reduced to beggars,” said Mr Murage.

The pensioners said that many of their colleagues were sick and bed ridden as their pension arrears accumulate.

“These are difficult times. In order to cushion us from the effects of Covid-19, we urge the President to save us from further suffering,” said the letter to the Head of State.

The scheme was established in 1991 as a defined benefit scheme with each member contributing five per cent of their salaries while the employer contributed 15 per cent.

This money was to be invested over a period of time and after the contributors attained the mandatory retirement age, they were supposed to be paid in lump sum.

RETRENCHMENT

The pension regulations states that in case of retrenchment, the employee is supposed to enjoy full benefits and in case of death, their families will claim the benefits.

However, the scheme started to experience financial difficulties in 2002 after their sponsors the defunct Pyrethrum Board of Kenya, now PPCK was rocked by years of mismanagement, corruption and theft of public resources.

The workers filed a winding up suit at the High Court in Nairobi, which was granted in December 2016.

The then Attorney – General Githu Muigai initiated the final process of winding up the debt-ridden pension scheme.

The scheme, once the best run in the country in the 1980s, was finally put under receivership on May 27, 2017.

An actuarial valuation report compiled by Actuarial Services East Africa (ActServ) indicated that the government owed the pensioners more than Sh2 billion.

UNDERRECEIVERSHIP

However, three years after the scheme was put under receivership, the pensioners are still waiting to be paid their arrears. Some of them have since died while waiting for their money
Interestingly, the cash strapped PPCK owns assets worth more than Sh4 billion across the 18 pyrethrum growing counties.

“The government should dispose of some of these assets which are now being used as a conduit of corruption and pay us our dues,” said Mr Tinga.